Chapter 3

Artemis heard a knock at the door.

"Yes?" he sighed.

His mother entered, her face glowing with a huge grin on her face. She had a beautiful floor length dark purple gown on. Artemis decided he would attempt a smile, it was more of a grimace.

"You look lovely, Mother." Artemis said to her.

"Oh, thank you Arty, people are starting to arrive! Would you come downstairs with me now?" she gushed.

Artemis smiled again, feebly. "Sure, Mother."

The linked arms, and Artemis sulked. Surely his mother wouldn't force him to make some kind of grand entrance? Surely she knew... He was interrupted from his thoughts by their arrival at the top of the stairs. Oh no. She had lied to him! His own mother!

The entire grand entrance was filled with people. They were certainly not just arriving. They were waiting for him. His grand entrance.

"Mother! Why in the world would you subject me to such ridicule!" Artemis had the feeling he already knew the answer.

"This is not ridicule, Artemis! And you are doing this so that you can make friends by showing off how debonair and handsome you are, Arty." Angeline beamed at him.

Artemis unlinked his arm from his mother's, and began storming his way quickly unnoticed down the stairs. The band, apparently having noticed him and his quick pace down the stairs, began to play furiously. A regal tune roared throughout the great main hall of Fowl manor, and Artemis could have sworn his face must have turned bright red.

Every single person in the building turned to look at him, to inspect him. He spotted a huge crowd of girls his age, whispering, huddled in the corner. Then the music started again, at a much slower pace, as his mother descended the stairs. Despite her embarrassment a few moments earlier, she was glowing. She walked slowly, carefully, and gracefully down the stairs, in a walk made of some strange mix of a model and a queen.

Then Angeline had descended, and they all turned on Artemis, eager to get a look at the strange, pale, reclusive boy they had heard so many rumors about.

"Hello, you must be Artemis Fowl," a hideous voice preened beside his ear. He whirled around in alarm.

In front of him stood possibly the most hideous girl he had seen in his life. Sure, she may have been naturally okay looking, perhaps even a little pretty, but her face was so caked with makeup it was hard to tell. She wore an extremely low cut blue sequined dress, and was teetering in sky high gold coloured heels. The gold, Artemis approved of. The dress, now that was just trying too hard. Her face was hard to look at, as not only was it caked with makeup but had streaks of sparkly brown, obviously meant to make her look tan, and turquoise eyeshadow to match the dress. In two words, the entire effect was blindingly horrible.

"Uh... Hello," Artemis replied, hesitantly, averting his eyes.

"I'm Prunella," she grinned, "So, I've heard you're a genius, I've never met one before." She crooned, batting her eyelashes furiously.

Artemis tried not to notice the small flakes of her makeup drifting off her face.

"Eh..." he paused awkwardly for a moment. "My Moth-"

She interrupted him before he could make his escape.

"Dance with me," she ordered, grabbing his hand.

Artemis nearly gasped aloud. Now he had to dance with this hideous creature? This party was even worse than he imagined.

Then, to make matters even worse, the band struck up a slow waltz. This posed many issues for Artemis. Firstly, he was not a good dancer, and most certainly not a good leader. Secondly, he recognized this particular tune, and it was at least ten minutes long. Thirdly, he could see his mother giggling as she whispered to the conductor of the band. Fantastic, this whole party was going to be at least five hours of torture.

When Ella first entered the front door of Fowl manor, she nearly gasped aloud. She didn't gasp because of the extravagant tasteful decor, in burgundy and gold, or because of the huge number of people making small talk on the edges of the room. She gasped because there, nearly right in front of her, her stepsister was dancing with Artemis Fowl, while tauntingly sneering at her. Her stepsister didn't seem surprised in the least.

They twirled, and again her stepsister was facing her. Her stepsister looked her up and down, making a horrible grimace. She shouldn't have done that.

Now Ella was mad. It wasn't often that Ella lost her temper, or was ever rude, even in the slightest. This was one of those rare times.

Ella marched straight across the grand marble floor, cutting off the dancing pair.

"My turn." She stated, staring coldly at her stepsister.

Before her stepsister could even comment, Ella had grabbed Artemis Fowl's hand, and was proceeding to drag him across the dance floor.

Artemis found it rather undignified.

Before he knew it, this girl had marched straight up to them and rescued him from that terrible girl. Now they were dancing. For the first time, he paused to look at her. She had dark brown hair, put up in a rather messy up-do. She wore an old fashioned dress, but it surprisingly suited her rather well. He noticed the way the dress draped elegantly over her hips, and how her feet moved quite rhythmically to the music.

Artemis checked himself. He most certainly did not usually notice these things. Then he looked up to her face. She had a rather pretty but plain face, and she wore little, if any, makeup. A welcome change, he thought.

She interrupted his thoughts, "Will you stop staring like that, please! At least say something. To think, I heard you were a genius!"

Artemis couldn't possibly think of a response to this. Girl's often had that effect on him, though not often for the same reasons.

He calmed himself, "I assure you Miss, I am indeed a genius. I simply didn't have a reply to your rather undignified outburst." Artemis always had a come back, if not right away, in a few seconds. Artemis removed his hand from the girl's grasp, turning to go.

"Excuse me, Artemis Fowl," she spat. "I guess I didn't anticipate your truly self-centered attitude and genius. See you, never." She stormed away to the other side of the room.

A/N: Please review and fav. Criticism is encouraged. Also, please check out my original fiction at under the same name: LJemima.

Thanks for reading!